Pokie profits soaring as more venues open up across NSW

NSW clubs and hotels are raking in huge profits on pokie machines with March losses almost breaching the $600 million mark.

Pokie profits for clubs and hotels are continuing to soar with latest NSW government showing punters lost almost $600 million last month.

The loss is a rise of more than 13 per cent compared with February when gaming machine profits were recorded at $528 million.

In March last year, punters lost just $355 million with restrictions significantly impeding gaming activity, with venues closed for part of that time.

The State’s obsession with pokies is not restricted to the city, with more than $147 million lost in regional NSW in March.

An analysis of pokie losses over the past four months shows the venues in the bush make up for almost one-quarter of total gaming machine profits.

Pokie machine losses are on the rise.

The release of the data follows the publication of Liquor and Gaming data earlier this month, which showed gaming venues earned more money from poker machines in the second half of 2020 that they did before the pandemic struck despite the number of machines available to play falling by 2374.

The biggest losses were felt in Fairfield in Sydney’s west where punters parted with $197 million, followed by Canterbury-Bankstown with $186 million.

But it is not punters ploughing in money - authorities believe money launderers may also be using the pokies to “wash” the proceeds of crime.

As The Sunday Telegraph revealed last month, authorities are auditing five venues to determine if laundering has occurred.

Customer Services Minister Victor Dominello has been calling for the industry to adopt a cashless card for pokies to stamp out laundering.

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